In the field of electronic device manufacturing, imaging materials must be made to perform on a variety of substrates. It is known in the art that different substrates may pose different challenges. For example, reflective, highly conductive substrates may impose optical conditions within the imageable films that lead to phenomena such as scumming, footing, standing wave artifacts such as “scallops” and the like. Further, interfacial issues may arise from poor adhesion. Poor adhesion may result in undercutting or delamination of the film during development. On the other hand, the film may exhibit strong adhesion to certain types of substrates that may result in foot formation or scumming.
There have been several attempts to manage the above optical and interfacial phenomena. To improve adhesion, substrate treatments have been described. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,035, Sedlak discloses and claims “a composition for promoting the adhesion of an organic compound to a metal surface, which comprises an etching solution, an effective amount of a quaternary ammonium cationic surfactant, and a solubilizing amount of a secondary surfactant or solvent.” This composition is said to be useful for improving photoresist adhesion to copper-clad circuit boards, and for improving adhesion of solder masks to printed circuits. However, while this treatment may be effective on such substrates as copper-clad circuit boards, its utility may be problematic on semiconductor substrates, which require much more precision, particularly where etch chemistries may be involved.
As a further example, in U.S. Pat. Appl. No. 2011/0214994, Utsumi et al. disclose a “pretreating agent for electroplating pertaining to the present invention [which] is characterized in that it includes an aqueous solution containing: (A) at least one anti-adsorption agent selected from among a triazole compound, a pyrazole compound, an imidazole compound, a cationic surfactant and an amphoteric surfactant; and (B) chloride ion as essential ingredients.” The pretreating agent may also contain a nonionic surfactant, and at least one solvent selected from among water-soluble ethers, amines, alcohols, glycol ethers, ketones, esters, and fatty acids, and an acid, and an oxidizing agent. While this formulation contains ingredients that arguably perform an anti-adsorption function, its use may be incompatible with semiconductor processing because it adds an extra step and requires a separate feed stream.
Therefore, there remains a need for a positive working photosensitive material with a composition suited for imaging on reflective and chalcophilic substrates that produces low defect, images at high resolution. As will become apparent, the subject matter disclosed herein addresses the above need.